Written -- 1997
Chinese immigrants were first drawn to the west because of gold mining and
the railroads. They were popular employees because they were eager to work
for tiny wages. In fact, in Butte's beginnings as a gold mining town, one
in five miners was Chinese or of another Oriental nationality.
But as gold and silver died out in Butte and copper mining became big,
people became resentful of the Chinese. Before long, Chinese were banned
from work of almost every kind. Prejudice was rampant. In fact, Henry
Jacobs ran for mayor with the slogan "Down With Cheap Chinese
Labor" and won.
Despite the fierce and sometimes violent prejudice, there were over 1,000
Chinese immigrants in Butte at the turn of the century. They occupied a
four-block area known simply as Chinatown.
Most of the Chinese planned to stay in Butte only until they had enough
money to get home. But when they were banned from working in the mines
(records show that Chinese were virtually the only nationality that never
worked in the mines) and couldn't find jobs anywhere else in Butte, they
needed some other way to earn money.
The Mai Wah and Wah Chong Tai buildings helped solve this problem. Located
in the heart of Chinatown, opening up onto 'China Alley' and Mercury
Street, they provided jobs and friendship to many of the Chinese
immigrants in Butte.
The Mai Wah building served as a mercantile, community center, and housed
a noodle parlor. The community center served as a meeting place for the
citizens of Chinatown. The Wah Chong Tai building housed, among other
things, a noodle factory that made square-cut Chinese egg noodles. Between
1945-1986 it served as a secondhand store and a fix-it-up shop.
Most of Chinatown's buildings were made of wood and have long since
perished. The Mai Wah and the Wah Chong Tai, which were built of brick in
1890, are basically all that is left of the once-bustling Chinatown, the
Tong Wars, and the glamourous and dangerous appearance of the little
neighborhood..
In 1991, when the Mai Wah was in danger of being torn down due to over
$900 in back taxes, a group of concerned citizens formed the Mai Wah
society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Chinatown in
Butte.
It is because of the Mai Wah society (and an anonomous benifactor who paid
off the back taxes) that these two buildings are still standing. The
members of the Mai Wah society have brought in hundreds of dollars worth
of artifacts from Chinatown. They are also supervising the removal of tons
of wood from the basement of these buildings. They have found the
beginnings of what looks to be a secret passage and are waiting to see if
the passage is real and if it leads to opium dens or perhaps the houses of
prostitution that were Chinatown's neighbors, as it is in Havre, MT.
The buildings are open to the public during the summer and are available
for tours year round.
If you would like to help the Mai Wah society by making a donation, please
make checks payable to the Mai Wah Society, Inc. and send to:
The Mai Wah Society, Inc.
17 West Mercury Street
Butte, MT 59701
The author would like to send out a heartfelt thanks to Dori Revay, George
Everett, and especially Karen Kane for helping me gather research
materials.